Death Toll from Ariana Grande Concert Bombing Could Rise

The number of people killed in the suicide bombing at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, UK on May 22 remains at 22, but it could rise in the coming days since 20 of the injured remain in critical care with what a senior NHS official called “horrific injuries,” reports the BBC.

“We’re dealing with injuries to major organs, we’re dealing with loss of limbs potentially, we’re dealing with embedded objects, all the horrific injuries that you would expect from the event that happened,” said Jon Rouse, chief officer of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, who added that the victims were receiving “round-the-clock” treatment.

12 of the 59 injured were children, Rouse said.

Also, far more people were injured in the blast than originally reported. While 59 people were taken to eight hospitals across Greater Manchester, another 60 were treated on the scene as “walking wounded,” reports Manchester Evening News.

Manchester police suspect that the bomber, 22-year-old Salman Abedi, may not have acted alone. Four men in total have been arrested in connection with the attack. Three were detained during raids on homes in south Manchester on Wednesday and one was arrested on Tuesday. The BBC reported that one of the men is Abedi’s brother. There are no further details about the arrests.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said police knew who Abedi was and that investigators are looking into whether he had any ties to ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Rudd called the bombing, “More sophisticated than some of the attacks we’ve seen before,” and added, “It seems possible, that he wasn’t doing this on his own, so the intelligence services and police are pursuing their leads in order to make sure they get all the information.”

On Tuesday evening (May 23), The British government, wary of additional possible attacks, raised the national terror threat level to “critical.”